Saturday, August 16, 2008, 03:50 AM - A new sound
Today I set up my voice mail on my land line and mobile. I was not sure if I would be able to hear the messages but it was the first time I had ever heard my own voice. It was bad enough to make my eyes water and I cringed. I sounded very different from how I thought I sounded![ add comment ]
Wednesday, August 29, 2007, 10:47 PM - A new sound
The other day my partner blew a raspberry in my ear 

I remember when I was about 14-16 and I got my brother to shout as loud as he could in both ears and I could not hear any thing. We also tried turning the TV up with me pressed against the TV, and again I heard nothing.
My partner shouted in the other ear which does not have an implant and I head him say very clearly that he loved me. I could have guessed some of the words I suppose - but the fact I got it any where near correct is amazing.
I think once the hearing parts of the brain get woken up and used on a regular basis somehow the hearing improves on both sides and better hearing results.
I have noticed that when my battery goes in the processor side, although robotic I can hear with out lip-reading on the hearing aid side. Although no where as good as a processor, for the few moments it takes to change three batteries it keeps me in the loop.
Since moving to Australia I have tried to take a walk most days to explore. It’s very difficult to understand everyone at the moment. I come from a part of the UK which is almost predominantly British white. I am now living in a very multicultural city - I guess which would be similar to London perhaps with a very large oriental ( they call them Asian here (!) a label we use for Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.) They use the term to cover Japan, China, and similar places. It gets a bit confusing! Although Australia does not seem to have a big African population, it does have a large Greek, Turkish, and Jewish community.
However, my point was due to this rich diversity of people, you get some interesting combinations of dialect and language mixed with a strong Australian accent on top of their home accent! It makes it very very heard to understand the spoken word sometimes. Australians speak completely differently too, I think they miss the end of words. As I always seem to hear the first part but never the end

I kidded myself that moving to a country which is mainly English spoken would be easier. Bah! Silly me! Still in a few months I will be looking for work so hopefully I will be better at understanding people even if I don’t know what the hell they are talking about!
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Friday, August 10, 2007, 12:07 AM - A new sound

I also answered the mobile in the car coz my partner was driving at the time, although it was difficult to hear I could make out some of the simple things he was saying. Ideal if I have to call emgerency services and its a noisy enviroment!
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Tuesday, July 24, 2007, 03:44 PM - A new sound
Today I went out with friends of mine, one of which brought her dog with her. I could hear him panting because he was so hot.
When he decided to lay in a rather muddy puddle and become and chocolate dog we took him to the lake to wash off. I could hear him coughing and snorting as he swam in the water.
It was quite fun to hear him as its not something I have ever noticed before.
I am using the phone a lot more now and when it rings I am answering and hearing the person at the other end. Its working much better with this new program. Normally I would not be able to hear it in a public place but I can with this setting. Wished I done it ages ago!
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Thursday, July 19, 2007, 03:03 PM - A new sound
Just when I though there could not possibly be any more new sounds 
The sound of a child's buggy on cobble stones sounds rather odd!
I can now identify the sound of a running tap with ease.
emergency services sound as they should these days - and so clear!
I am hearing the different sounds of the birds as well.
Using the phone gets easier and eaiser.
My implant broke on Wednesday the screen went wonkey and the number / letter would not come up. I went to the center to get a replacement,
while I was there I asked about the multi T loop on the normal setting so that I did not have to keep changing my programme every time the land line rang. They said that this was no problem to do - the only drawback was that the setting looks for a t loop all the time - and if it finds a broken on it can cause strange sounds.
I decided to risk it, so I now have programme one with the mutli T loop thing (which intrestinly seems to also make mobile's sound better)
Programe two ardo? sp/ which I normally use on T for the land line (just in case)
Programe three is my normal programe that I had before.
Programe four is whisper which they keep giving me - but I never use.
So far I really like the first setting - and I wish they told me about it ages ago.
http://www.tomlinuk.com/ciblog/comments ... 331-175914 this is the link from David who suggested that I tried this setting - many


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